What we do

Prison Reading Groups (PRG) helps establish, fund and support reading groups in prisons. For prisoners the groups are an important route to desistance and rehabilitation. They encourage empathy with the lives of others through reading; they promote critical self-reflection and mutual respect; and they help connect prisoners with family and the wider culture outside.

We work with prison librarians and officers to recruit members and get groups established. We recruit and train volunteers and we liaise with them to order and deliver books.

PRG also organises author and playwright visits which are enjoyed enormously by writers and prisoners alike.

PRG works with prisons to support Family Days, providing specially chosen books, book bags and activities for children visiting a parent in prison.

For more information about what we do follow the links below to our most recent Annual Review and our 2013 report, What Books Can Do Behind Bars, which tells the story of PRG’s growth from its beginnings in 1999.